NFTs have the potential to turn the gaming industry on its head. Here, we explore what NFT games are all about, why they are increasingly popular, and how they change the gaming world.
What are NFTs?
NFT stands for nonfungible token. This is a unit of data. It is stored on a digital ledger known as a blockchain. A blockchain is also used as storage for cryptocurrency, but NFTs are slightly different.
Each NFT represents a digital asset like a photograph, digital artwork, video, or audio file. The NFT certifies the uniqueness of a digital asset, so they are not interchangeable like a unit of cryptocurrency. In gaming, NFTs can represent avatars, skins, weapons, and all sorts of in-game collectible items that would typically be earned or purchased.
How are NFTs able to change gaming?
We’ve seen that models of business in gaming have been much the same for a while now. Nearly all games have made their money in one of two ways. Either they are purchased initially for a more significant sum, or they are offered free, or they are almost free, but they require subscriptions or offer in-app purchases.
With either of these models, any purchase or acquisition you make stays within the game. The game developers have all the rights and ownership of any digital asset within the game. So, there is no way to resell any of your assets to other players or take them to another game. NFTs offers the opportunity to overcome this problem.
NFTs have opened up a world where you can trade your digital gaming assets with other players. This is a significant change. It is possible to make large sums of money by earning and then selling digital assets. Or, more commonly, by purchasing assets as an investment and selling them on. Let’s explore these virtual marketplaces in more detail.
Play to earn
Gamers now get the choice. Would they like to spend their money on games that provide a short-term hit of fun only? Or would they want to play games where they get to retain their assets and potentially recoup or even profit from them? When it’s put like this, it’s easy to see why NFT games are shaking things up in the gaming world.
The value of game assets can vary considerably. The resale value will depend on the game’s scarcity, aesthetics, and other subtleties. Some game assets can grow in value much, whereas others might be poor investments. Like all forms of finance, it is essential to be cautious.
Here are more advantages offered by NFT games.
More power to the players
With pay-to-play traditional game models, there is always a risk that the game’s owners could delete a player’s assets or bar them from the competition. However, when a player owns the digital assets used in that game, that risk disappears. Whatever happens, those assets are yours to resell, trade, or do whatever you want.
The same applies when you grow tired of a game and your interest switches to another. You could have spent hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands, on in-game collectibles by playing pay-to-play games. By quitting the game, you would be saying goodbye to that money. However, with NFT games, you can recoup what you spend.
Play to earn
NFT games offer play-to-earn. Axie Infinity is one of the best-known NFT games. In this game, the more time you spend playing the game, the greater the compensation with NFTs. You can trade or sell in-game characters, land plots, and collectibles to other players for real money.
The model used by Axie Infinity is already popular, and you can expect more companies to adopt it. Natural communities and economies are building in and around games like this. It’s possible to earn hundreds of dollars a month playing Axie Infinity which means players are forging a professional career from the game in some parts of the world where the cost of living enables it.
Remember that this is a growing area of gaming. Watch this space for more lucrative opportunities to earn as you play.
More player participation
The community element of the play-to-earn and NFT game models is a big draw. Because players have so much control over their assets, they can participate in the growth of a game and help mold it. The more gamers get involved in these games, the more they will evolve and expand.
Flipping traditional models
Just like cryptocurrencies have disrupted the finance world, many people believe that NFTs are likely to overturn the world of gaming. This is because they empower individuals who benefit from playing the game rather than the shareholders. While some argue that the greater profitability of pay-to-play games means that the industry will be reluctant to let them go, it will be hard for game developers to ignore the popularity of NFT games.
